My memory was going, still failing, which made me second-guess just about
everything
which drove the people working for me nuts, distracted me from what I needed to be doing, and wasted so much time I barely got any writing done. Which drove me even
crazier
. Basically I was a basket case. Things were disappearing from my lists, nothing was ever where I left it in my house, chores were done I didn’t do, and just
everything
was off and I never seemed to remember shit.
It affected how often I had releases coming out, and of course, Teak noticed that and asked me what was going on.
“Does this have something to do with why you seem to be gone during the day a couple of times a week?” he hedged as I checked on something in the smoker one day a few months after they’d moved in.
“Just a lot going on, Teak,” I sighed, giving him the half-truth. “I pushed off a lot because I had work problems last year, and it’s biting me in the ass. I filed an extension on my taxes and apparently that was a big no-no when incorporated, so I have that and this year’s quarterly filings to get done, and I haven’t been to the dentist in three years so bad me, and on, and on, and some restructuring with my company, and just
shit
.”
I felt bad lying because I
still
hadn’t handled my taxes, focusing on the doctors first because—well I couldn’t think about much else with a proverbial cloud of doom I sensed chasing me.
“Is there anything we can do?”
“Can you get my mail for me next week actually?” I muttered as I walked back into the kitchen and washed my hands.
“Wait,
why
?” he gasped, suddenly next to me as Aspen and Cypress hovered close as well.
“Because I’m going home to Chicago to visit my parents.” That wasn’t all I was going home for. My primary care doctor who had taken care of me when I’d lived there for
years
and since I was a kid had found me a rare disease specialist she knew and trusted. When I’d run out of options with the doctors in Omaha, I’d called her and sent her everything I’d learned, crying that I needed help and hope. She’d cared enough for me and my family to drop everything and dive right into my now
massive
file.
“Why can’t they come here? We’d love to meet them,” Cypress whined, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I have other family there too, guys,” I chuckled, turning to them as I wiped my hands on the dish towel. “You’ll be fine with sandwiches for a week. I’m not leaving until Monday so there will be lots of leftovers for you to zap as well. I miss my gram, and she can’t travel very well, so eight hours in a car to drive here is a little much for her.”
They pouted a bit but saw me off the morning I left, waving as a group from my driveway. It was actually really cute, touching even, and made me finally admit that I’d fallen for them—all of them. And I didn’t know what to do about it.
The drive home, I had a lot of time to think and a lot of it wasn’t positive. Aspen, Cypress, and Teak had hinted they were ready for more from me but until we had that “one day” talk about wherever they were from and I had some real answers about me, I wasn’t going there. But I wanted to—fuck, did I. If there was
ever
a time in my life I could use as much support as possible, it was now.
Hell, I hadn’t even
told
them about anything I suspected. I didn’t know
how
. I mean, they never even brought up my weight loss, and it wasn’t like they couldn’t have noticed. That first week was twelve pounds, but since then, it was between eight and ten for a total of
a hundred and twenty pounds
in
three months
. No one lost that. Not without a reason or major surgery.
And my mind was
not
so far gone that I didn’t remember major surgery.
When I pulled into the drive of my parents’ house and got out of the car, my mom actually swayed on her feet when she saw me. My dad’s jaw dropped open but he caught her in time.
“I told you I wasn’t exaggerating,” I whispered as I walked over to them.
“And you swear on your pup’s and grandfathers’ souls no surgery or diet pills or
anything
,” he rasped as he stared at me.
“No, Daddy,” I swore as tears filled my eyes. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
“Then we’ll figure this out. Whatever it takes, what
ever
we have to do. We will fix this, baby girl.” He let go of my mom when she assured him she was fine and they wrapped me in a bear hug.
“I want to say you look fabulous because you
do
,” she cried against me. “But it seems so crass.”
“It’s okay,” I chuckled, wiping my eyes and kissing her head. “I think the same thing every day. If I’m not dying, I’ll be grateful for whatever blessing helped me finally lose weight.” I’d been struggling with my weight since I was a kid, going to every dietician and trying any healthy meal plan out there. Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, nothing worked for me. Hell, I
gained
weight when I saw a clinical specialist who put me on prepackaged twelve hundred calorie a day plan.
I was kind of hopeless like that, so yeah, this was really a switch. Part of me wanted to accept the gift that maybe my body was catching up and finally getting back into whack and simply being what it should be—normal. But no one lost weight this fast.
And that didn’t explain my head issues.
My parents and gram babied me while I was home, and to be honest, I soaked it up, my nerves needing it. But then the appointment came at the end of the week, and I was ready to shit blue kittens I was so scared.
Especially because my insurance wasn’t covering it. I had to pay for the visit, which was some exorbitant amount, but the doctor had agreed that depending on what he found or didn’t find, I might be some medical mystery he could publish on and he might run the tests for free. When I went through the precursory tests with the nurse at his office, I almost fell off the scale when I saw the number.
I hadn’t lost a pound since I’d weighed myself the Sunday before I’d left Nebraska.
“Could it be environmental?” I blurted when the doctor entered the room before he even introduced himself. He blinked at me and I explained why I said what I did.
“That’s a thought,” he hedged, flipping through paperwork. “You were living there for a year before though. Is there
anything
that changed locally around that time?”
“My neighbors moved in,” I whispered, once again coming back to Aspen, Cypress, and Teak.
“You’ve been tested for anything that they could have transmitted to you, Cara.” He smiled and let me know how crazy it sounded.
“No, I know, but what if they brought something environmental
with
them?” I pushed, thinking there was no other
logical
explanation. “I mean, how
else
could there be three months of weight loss and it stops for a week when I’m in Chicago?
That’s
something to take into consideration, right?”
“It is. I am glad you brought it up.” He jotted down a few notes, and I had a feeling that no matter what he found, he would take my case. Because I was a mystery. That was for
damn
sure.
I simply didn’t think I was going to like whatever answers were found.
When we were done, the lab drew about a gallon of blood from me to start with, then it was a bone marrow biopsy and spinal tap before they let me go. I got in my car and headed back to my parent’s house to say goodbye. They talked me into staying another night, pushing that I wasn’t in any condition to make an eight hour drive after going through all of that.
They didn’t have to push hard. I was
wiped
. We talked for a bit, had dinner, and then I did a wonderful face plant on their guest room bed.
And didn’t dream about the guys. At. All. I hadn’t that whole week I’d been there.
But I had every night since they’d moved in.
The next morning I said goodbye to my parents and got in my car, waving as I drove off, thoughts racing in my mind.
I noticed the weight loss a week after they moved in. The next time I stepped on the scale after they moved in. The day after they moved in, things were done I didn’t remember doing and items removed from my to-do list. I wasn’t a forgetful person until then. The dreams started the night I met them.
Everything
revolved around Aspen, Cypress, and Teak. I no longer
cared
how crazy, unlikely, or flat out ridiculous it sounded. Going home to Chicago just proved they were somehow involved.
What other fucking explanation was there? I mean,
seriously
! This had to involve them somehow. Or at least one part of it. And even if I was completely and utterly wrong, I was going to figure a way to rule that out as well. That was the scientific way. It might not be what a medical professional would do but they had no answers for me after
months
of poking and prodding me and I
needed
some answers.
Fuck, I needed them desperately.
So I stopped at Best Buy on the way home and got one of those Belkin surveillance cameras that had infrared and were motion activated. I stuffed it in my bag just in case the guys met me when I pulled up, feeling like a paranoid freak, but I had to know.
I just
had to
. Even if it turned out to be nothing, great. Then at least I might laugh about it one day, but the whole way home, I had two quotes running through my head, and as much as I couldn’t remember who said them and I was probably botching them, it was what I was thinking.
The simplest explanation is normally the correct one.
And wasn’t the simplest explanation the one that had the same factor to all the issues? Them. Even if it was unlikely or bizarre?
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
That one to me just hit the nail on the mother fucking head. And while I wasn’t exactly in a position to Google it, I was pretty damn sure the guy who wrote the Sherlock Holmes books said that. Science was failing me.
Time to go with an author. A legendary one… Even if his name failed me at the moment because, well, I was
slightly
stressed and all of that.
When I got home, I parked and got out, stretching my cramped muscles.
Moments
later, the three of them were jogging over to greet me. I smiled, still happy to see them even with all my doubts. I was completely conflicted. I wanted answers but I didn’t want it to be them. But they would be the easiest explanation.
The whole thing hurt my head… And my heart—because I’d given it to them.
They delivered big hugs and Cypress took my suitcase—I quickly snagged my knapsack and slung it over my shoulder—asking about my trip and how I was, telling me they missed me and such. I filled them in on a few things, not able to say much since most of my time in Chicago was focused around my health and worrying the
shit
out of my family. They told me where my mail was and caught me up which luckily didn’t take long since nothing really happened where we lived.
I politely excused myself, explaining I had some work to catch up on and was pretty tired. They pouted a bit but let me be. I accepted their kisses on the cheek and locked the door behind them.
Then I sprang into action. I hurried to set up the camera in my room, camouflaging it on the bookshelf where my TV and Blu-Ray player was between some stacks of movies and the Dish receiver. I looked at it from all angles around the room and it was pretty small. Only someone who really was paying attention and looking for it would see it. And even if they did, I would have already caught them.
That was all I really needed.
Getting it installed to record to my computer and onto my Wi-Fi wasn’t as easy as the instructions made it seem but it never really was. I pulled it off and even tested out my new toy before I went to bed, making sure that it recorded while the monitor was in sleep mode. Nothing would get me busted faster than them
seeing
themselves live and in color like walking by and seeing the feed on my huge all-in-one computer in my office.
And putting up the screen to my office and closing the curtain would send up a red flag because I never did that unless strangers were coming over. The guys had long since not fallen into that category.
I was vibrating with nerves when I crawled into bed that night, thinking I’d never fall asleep… But eventually I did, exhaustion and stress winning out. The dreams came back too.
“I missed her so much,” Teak whispered as he pulled back the covers and lifted my shirt, gently running his hands over my stomach. “God, she is
so
stressed out, guys. What are we going to do?”
“We should tell her. It’s time,” Cypress answered as he rubbed my leg.